維摩經略疏垂裕記 6.36

6.36

Question: In the various Mahāyāna texts, all speak identically to this; coming down to the Lotus Sūtra conferring predictions upon disciples, all determine the kalpas, lands, lifespans, disciples to be converted, and so forth; why is this unique to the Hīnayāna? Answer: What the Mahāyāna discusses is that Buddha and Buddha are equal in their path, appearing in response according to capacities; although it may sometimes speak identically to the Small, how could there be a fixed attachment? For example, the Lotus Sūtra clarifies that repeatedly one proclaims arising and ceasing, in the ten directions there are emanation bodies, there is constantly the Vulture Peak, and in other lands he again becomes a Buddha. Also, as the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra explains, in the west there is the land Aparājitā, adorned like Sukhāvatī, where Śākyamuni appeared. The Śūraṅgamasamādhi Sūtra states that a lifespan of seven hundred asaṃkhyeyas is an alternate name of Śākyamuni. The Suvarṇaprabhāsa Sūtra discusses the Buddha's lifespan, [saying] empty space, the earth, mountains, and oceans cannot serve as an analogy. The Dazhidulun clarifies that Śākyamuni also has a pure land, just like Amitābha. In the present sūtra, the Brahmā king sees it as like the Paranirmitavaśavartin Heaven. In all these sūtras and treatises, how could it be like the Hīnayāna asserting that a lifespan of one hundred years in a defiled land is definitively Śākyamuni? Since one Buddha is immeasurable, all Buddhas are likewise so. One ought to reflect upon their essential tenet, and not let the Great and the Small be confounded.